Control knobs are commonly used on a variety of commercial and residential appliances to control an operating condition of the appliance. Control knobs are particularly common on cooking appliances, such as stoves or cooktops. Various shapes and sizes can be used depending upon, e.g., the intended application, aesthetics, and other factors.
For example, cooktops traditionally have at least one heating element positioned at a cooktop surface for use in heating or cooking an object, such as a cooking utensil and its contents. The at least one heating element may heat a cooking utensil directly through induction heating or may use another heat source such as electrically resistant coils or gas burners. Control knobs are typically used to adjust the power level of the heating element—and thus the amount of heat delivered by the heating element. In other appliances, e.g., ovens, washing machines, clothes dryers, etc., control knobs are often used to select an operating mode of the appliance, such as “bake” or “broil” for ovens, “cotton” or “permanent press” for clothes dryers, etc.
Often the position of the control knob, and thus the operating mode or power level setting it controls, is not readily visible to a user of the appliance from a distance, for example, across the kitchen from the dining room. To provide a user with easily visible feedback regarding the setting of the power control and thus the power being supplied to the heating element, cooktops with mechanical knobs generally include a display for communicating a status of the heating element. For example, displays may typically include a fixed light source illuminating one or more translucent portions defined by the control knob. However, because light may bleed undesirably to adjacent indicators, it is often difficult for a consumer to precisely ascertain the power level.
Accordingly, a cooktop appliance having a control knob with improved knob illumination is desirable. More particularly, a control knob assembly that can accurately illuminate a portion of the control knob to provide an easily visible indication of the angular position of the control knob and the status of the heating element would be particularly beneficial.